Classes moving, cleanup started following fire at UW-Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE _ University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students will receive information Tuesday on the relocation of classes held in its art, music and theater buildings following a fire at UWM’s Peck School of the Arts on Saturday night.

The fire reported about 10 p.m. Saturday appears to have started in the set/scenery shop in the school’s theater building. That building suffered fire damage, and it and the adjacent music and art buildings have smoke and water damage.

Classes will be moved to other campus buildings, including the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, Kenilworth building and Mitchell Hall. Students will receive emails from their departments advising them on where their classes will meet. The Peck School serves 1,700 students majoring in the arts and other 500 who take arts classes.

Faculty members and staff will be allowed into the music building on Tuesday to collect personal belongings. The music building suffered the least damage, and workers are striving to clean and reopen it by next Monday.

The art building also is expected to be cleaned and reopen by April 24. The theater building will likely remain closed until the fall semester.

Updates are being posted on the Peck School of the Arts Facebook page, and class relocations and other information will be posted on the school’s website beginning Tuesday.

Friday and Saturday performances by guitarists Adam Holzman and Alex de Grassi have been moved to UWM’s Greene Hall, and a few recitals scheduled for this week will be moved as well. Events scheduled for the Zelazo Center and Kenilworth building will take place as planned.

Additional information about the recovery effort and schedule changes will be shared with news media as it becomes available.